QEW Drivers Prepare For Major Slowdown

Commuting in and out of the downtown area has been no picnic for drivers lately.

First, the Gardiner was closed for repairs a couple of weeks ago.

That same weekend, the high-traffic area around Dundas Street was also shut down making it hard for motorists to even get around inside the city.

And it looks like it’s not going to get much better for commuters this week.

A group of angry Caledonia residents are planning a slow convoy down the usually congested QEW all the way to Queen’s Park to rally against an ongoing aboriginal occupation in their town on Wednesday.

Resident and protest organizer Dan Roberts said they’re tired of living in fear and want the province to kick negotiations into high gear until the year-long occupation is resolved.

“Our community is not moving ahead,” he said.

Roberts lives a stone’s throw away from the former housing development site that has been occupied by Six Nations protesters since February 2006.

The Ontario government has argued it doesn’t have the power to end the occupation since only Ottawa can settle the underlying land claim.

But Roberts said the province should try and get all sides meeting every day and not just every couple of weeks until the matter is resolved.

This would be the second aboriginal-related protest at Queen’s Park in less than two weeks after a native group brought their demands over a land dispute to the legislature building last Monday.

So if you’re one of many planning to drive into the city Wednesday, you might want to start making alternative arrangements and bust out those transit schedules.